According to Rogers Sportsnet on Tuesday, the Portland Trail Blazers have decided to not play Damian Lillard of Oakland, California for the remainder of the 2022-23 National Basketball Association regular season. The reason for the decision is because they don’t want to put Lillard at risk of anymore further injuries. With seven games left in the regular season, the Trail Blazers have a record of 32 wins and 43 losses, and are four and a half games back of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Dallas Mavericks for the final play-in tournament spot in the Western Conference.
In 58 games this season, Lillard is averaging 32.2 points per game, 7.3 assists per game, and 4.8 rebounds per game. He also has a field goal percentage of .439, a three-point percentage of .372 and a free throw percentage of .895.
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Lillard’s 32.2 points per game this season are the third most in the NBA. He only trails Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid of Yaounde, Cameroon (33.3 points per game), and Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic of Ljubljana, Slovenia (32.9 points per game).
Lillard’s most magical game in 2022-23 came on February 26. In a 131-114 Portland win over the Houston Rockets, Lillard scored 71 points, and tied Donovan Mitchell for the most points scored by a player in a game this season. Lillard also had a 60-point game on January 25 in a 134-124 Portland win over the Utah Jazz.
Lillard has had numerous injuries in recent times. They include a calf injury, wrist injury and ankle injury in 2022-23. It should be noted that Lillard missed 43 games in 2021-22 because of an abdominal injury.
